Please do not reply to this newsletter, as your email will bounce. Contact your Departmental Rep or uonucubranch@gmail.com if you need any assistance.
Dear members,
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating this month, and we hope this winter break gives all our members some time to rest and recuperate after this tumultuous semester. This will be the final newsletter before the University closes for the break.
Don’t forget to attend our final members’ meeting of the calendar year on this Friday, 12th December at 12 pm. Per Lopa’s email this morning (subject line Motion for this Friday 101225 meeting) we will be discussing and voting on the motion to move towards a new industrial action mandate, the text of which is in Lopa’s email. Join using this zoom link.
Read on for the following topics:
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- Protected and Performance Conversations
- Academic Profile Tool
- Claiming strike pay
- Postgraduate demonstrator underpayment
- Branch Committee meeting summary
- Departmental Reps meeting summary
- Feedback needed: Proposed changes to promotion process
- HSE investigation outcome
- Local and national campaigning
- Joining link and further information
Protected and Performance Conversations
We have become aware that members may be being invited to “Protected” or “Performance” Conversations. While related, these two measures are distinct.
Protected Conversations also occurred last year, thus we already have an FAQ on the website. Members are entitled to be accompanied at such conversations; you can request UCU presence using the caseworker support form (blue tab on right of screen).
Performance Conversations are likely to be the first stage of the capability procedure. Whilst there is no right to be accompanied at this informal stage, members can ask to bring a workplace colleague; it would be unusual for the University to deny a reasonable request. We suspect performance management will soon become widespread in the University – the union will actively scrutinise the process to ensure it is fair, proportionate and in line with agreed University policies. If you have any concerns about the process, please do speak to your Departmental Rep in the first instance.
Academic Profile Tool
Last week saw the launch of a new Academic Profile Tool (APT), announced rather subtly on the staff newsletter. Members have already raised concerns, via Department Reps, about the variability and reliability of what this tool purports to show.
Some of the concerns about research metrics in the APT may come under the responsible use of metrics policy. Where that is the case, these should be reported to the libraries research support team and your School Director of RKE.
Claiming strike pay
Many members will now be in a position to claim for up to 8 days of support from the national UCU Fighting Fund against salary deductions in 2025. To do so, follow the process on MyUCU. To then claim additional support from our local funds, follow the steps in our members email of 31st October. Thank you to every member, well wisher and supporter who donated to these local funds. This is a powerful act of material solidarity. If you wish to donate to the local hardship fund, the details are on the last link.
Postgraduate demonstrator underpayment
The branch has been made aware that postgraduate lab demonstrators have been underpaid by between 20 and 30% in last month’s payroll, and have not received holiday pay (effectively an additional 12% deduction), or even their payslip. This was initially explained to the relevant employees in an email on 27th November, as being the result of an administrative error.
The branch has been informed that this is the result of a communication error between Unitemps timesheets and Unicore. The payments were made as an emergency measure, with national insurance and tax (according to University’s approximations) deducted. Affected employees were assured that the problem would be rectified at the next pay day, 22nd December.
This situation is of course unacceptable, and has likely caused undue stress, hardship and confusion during the most expensive time of the year. If you have been affected by this, please let your Departmental Rep know so we can keep track of this issue. You also have the right to request an emergency payment by replying to the email that informed you of the pay problem in the first place. If you choose to do this, we advise you to cc your Departmental Rep.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met today Wednesday 10th December and discussed
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- Wording of new industrial action mandate,
- Counterproposals to FN2,
- Engagement with Heads of School,
- The sudden emergence, and implications of the Academic Profile Tool dashboard.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Departmental Reps meeting summary
Your Departmental Reps met on Tuesday 9th December and discussed;
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- Wording of the new mandate,
- Supporting members in protected/performance conversations.
The Departmental Reps meeting occurs approximately monthly to provide space for Reps to feed back comments and concerns from members in their areas.
Feedback needed: Proposed changes to promotion process
Thank you again for your feedback on HR’s proposed Framework and Criteria for Academic and Technical Specialist Promotions. You can see HR’s responses here.
There is one more document for consultation, this time on proposed changes to the promotion process. Please have a look and send any comments to Mel Bhend at REDACTED by Tuesday 16th December. Your feedback will then be collated and sent back to HR.
HSE investigation outcome
On Monday 1st December, the HM Principal Inspector of H&S wrote to Jane Norman about their assessment of the University’s management of work-related stress. They concluded that the control measures and management arrangements were reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances and that no further action would be taken.
This is of course disappointing news, given all the data and evidence that the workload group had collected which proves the contrary.
Nevertheless, the inspector also notes that the university’s response
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- Does not specify which management standards present the highest risk for work-related stress,
- Relies on staff surveys rather than targeted measures to assess the effectiveness of controls,
- Places emphasis on preventative actions that do not constitute primary controls.
The workload group will ensure that these concerns are addressed, and continues to gather evidence on mismanagement of work-related stress.
Local and national campaigning
A Wide Net of Solidarity: Antiracism and Anti-Imperialism from the Americas to the Globe
The Cuba Research Forum is hosting a seminar given by Anne Garland Mahler (University of Virginia) on the history of the Anti-imperialist League of the Americas (LADLA). LADLA, founded in 1925, brought together trade unions, agrarian organizations, and artist groups across fourteen chapters in the Americas. This seminar explores how these exchanges influenced debates in radical circles in the Americas, specifically on the subjects of Black and Indigenous labor, immigrant rights, and racial policing.
The seminar will be presented online at 5:00 pm on Tuesday 27th January. Meeting link here.
Call on Nottinghamshire County Council to divest from apartheid
We encourage all members to sign Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s petition demanding that Nottinghamshire County Council divests from from companies and organisations complicit in the genocide in Palestine
Currently the LGPS holds £170 million in shares in genocide-complicit companies. In line with the branch’s BDS motion and solidarity with Palestine motion the branch has given official support to the campaign.
Report anti-trans discrimination
Have you been questioned, stopped or challenged using a single-sex space? Fill in this form to help TransActual advocate on this issue at a national level.
Joining link and further information
Remember to pass on the online joining link to your colleagues.
Donate to the branch hardship fund here!
Having trouble at work? Please log a case with our large, competent casework team!
Need to talk to your Departmental Rep? Find the full list of UoN UCU reps here. If you are interested in becoming a departmental rep, get in touch!
Struggling with your mental health or wellbeing? UCU members get free access to confidential support service educationsupport.org.uk who can be called 24/7 on 0800 562 561.
Yours sincerely,
L Scott Blankenship and Will Paterson-Bassett, Branch Communications Officers, on behalf of UoN UCU Branch Committee
Branch website: https://uonucu.org/